Saturday, May 24, 2008

Knitting Choreography (or... I'll show you mine if you show me yours)

In the past year and a half I have learned a lot about manipulating yarn and sticks to create fabric. One thing I have discovered in that time is that there really are many ways knitters make this happen. There are pickers and throwers. There are those knitters that only move one needle and tuck the other under an arm. There are those with big movements, and those who hardly seem to move at all.But even among knitters who knit the same style, each knitter has their own nuanced "knitting choreography" - a much rehearsed dance of the hands.

Those of you who read here may know of my oddball knitting style I call "Lefty-Combined".I have not yet run into any other knitters who share my style, but I would love to.

Here is a short video of my hands in motion:

I am trying to go slowly at first to show my oddball ways a little clearer.I move stitches from the right hand needle to the left.The leading leg of my stitches are behind the needle.I hold my yarn in my right hand and catch it from underneath with my needle to pull it through the stitch.I tend to keep my right needle still, but I have noticed I do a little movement with my right thumb. Each stitch it jumps from the front of the needle to the back as I pull the yarn through.

Since the video quality isn't that great, here are a few stills to illustrate:

What is unique about your knitting choreography?I would love to see other knitting in motion, please let me know if you decide to show yours!

Sunday, May 18, 2008

OK... So... I lied

I typed yesterday that I was not starting a cowl... and then all I could think of was cowls. Perhaps it was because of this yarn... my recent acquisition from the Zen Yarn Garden Semi-solid sock club......which has been screaming to be up higher up than my feet.

So I pulled it out last night and cast on for Gloria version 2.0 (version 1.0 is here)

This time I cast on 85 instead of 99, and I am increasing by 2 stitches every 5-7 rounds so that it is a little cozier at the top and flares a bit at the bottom.I also wanted to have more of a transition from the seed stitch to the plain stockinette to eliminate the harsh line and stop the tendency to fold at that point.After the 3 rounds of seed stitch, I did one round of *k2, p1*, then a round of *k3, p1*, a round of *k4, p1, ending with a round of *k5, p1*. I like the random look of the transition so far.Although I am reserving judgment until I can try it on off the needles.

I also started my second February Baby sweater by Elizabeth Zimmerman during nap time today. After my first one, I knew that I wanted to try another one without the gull stitch lace. I'm using Dream in Color Classy in "Cloud Jungle".

So far I really like the yarn, except it is quite smelly. It's not a bad smell, but enough to make me need to take a break from it. I think it will be just fine after washing it. However it does make me think that I may want to wash the yarn first if I knit with it again.

I was tagged a few weeks ago for the top 100 yarns meme by Michelle of Knitting in Transit, and I have no good reason at all why I have not done it yet - especially since it is my first real meme (woo-hoo!).

Here are the details:Using the top 100 yarns on Ravelry (by number of projects):Bold the ones you’ve used and would use again;Cross out the ones you’ve used and would not use again; andItalicize the ones you’ve never tried, but would like to.Add comments as desired, and then pass the meme along to 5 knitters/crocheters. Link back to this post and to the person who tagged you.

Instead of putting a huge list of so many things I have not used (I'm still pretty much a newbie), I have only included the ones I "marked".

I just borrowed the original cowl back to re-block and record my gauge and measurements.If you are wondering... I added it here.

So many fabulous cowls and cowl patterns have been surfacing lately... perhaps I should announce (to fit with the craze) that I am currently working on a cowl, but no... instead I have sock plans for this...

and sweater plans for this...

and this...

I found this pile (8 skeins) of white, superwash, worsted weight wool at a local senior center "shoppe" in a grab bag with 4 more skeins of a different brand. I snagged them for a couple bucks to dye and possibly turn into a toddler sweater. I have not been able to find either yarn through Ravelry or the internet. I'm not even sure if the brand is Tessan or Jessan.

My other thrifty purchase (for which I do not yet have a plan) was a 75 cent bag of...

Green Mountain Spinnery Double Twist Worsted250 yards of the bricky red color and 125 of the green.It included a chaming ear flap hat pattern as well.There was only one tag naming one of the colors as "Bittersweet" - I'm guessing the red one, but who knows.

I finally finished my "Harlot Socks" that I started for the Yarn Harlot's visit back in April.

For some reason the pink, red and orange together just makes me smile,and I am flabbergasted that the stripes worked out to match - even with two splices in one of the socks.

My first sweater!

I became enchanted with this pattern when I saw this,and again when I saw this.

This was wonderfully fun to knit - Elizabeth Zimmerman was is a genius. I have plans to use a few more of her patterns in the future.

Last weekend I soaked and blocked, and yesterday I picked up some buttons. Nothing fancy, but I like the look.

The Rowan Cashsoft is wonderfully soft for a baby sweater. I hope it maintains its crisp look with use. It was a little slippery feeling to work with - I think I would prefer using bamboo needles with it in the future.

Instead of following EZ's instructions of finishing the sleeves flat first and then completing the body, I finished the body first and magic looped the sleeves to eliminate any seaming. I also decided not to decrease by 10% at the base of the body.

Now that I have finished my first sweater... I am thinking of more.I have plans to make another without the lace pattern, and I love the idea of making an adult version like this!

Sunday, May 04, 2008

Two and a Half Years!

We stopped doing the monthly photo sessions, but I couldn't let the half-birthday go by without one.This was by far the easiest and most fun photo session we've ever had - there was laughing and even singing.The Bud was a bit more cleaned up than normal to go to my concert this afternoon, so we took advantage of it.He didn't make it through the whole concert today. He has sat through entire concerts in the past - entranced by the instruments and music. However today he only made it through the first piece. To his credit - the first piece did have 5 movements. The second piece had a cello soloist - the Bud thought he was intentionally making funny faces while he played, so at that point it was time for running in the lobby. He is very much in a go-go-go phase right now.

Although I really enjoyed playing in the concert - it was a physically demanding line up. The second movement of the Haydn Cello Concerto is a back-breaker. It is extremely slow with no breaks - I spend the whole, long movement making a tiny bow strokes every other beat or so. It just proves that sometimes seemingly simple pieces can be quite difficult.